WASP-39b is a hot Saturn-mass exoplanet with a predicted clear atmosphere based on observations in the optical and infrared. Here, we complete the transmission spectrum of the atmosphere with observations in the near-infrared (NIR) over three water absorption features with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) G102 (0.8-1.1 mu m) and G141 (1.1-1.7 mu m) spectroscopic grisms. We measure the predicted high-amplitude H2O feature centered at 1.4 mu m and the smaller amplitude features at 0.95 and 1.2 mu m, with a maximum water absorption amplitude of 2.4 planetary scale heights. We incorporate these new NIR measurements into previously published observational measurements to complete the transmission spectrum from 0.3 to 5 mu m. From these observed water features, combined with features in the optical and IR, we retrieve a well constrained temperature T-eq = 1030(20)(+30) K, and atmospheric metallicity 151(46) (+48) solar, which is relatively high with respect to the currently established mass-metallicity trends. This new measurement in the Saturn-mass range hints at further diversity in the planet formation process relative to our solar system giants.

Several different classes of trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) have been identified based on their optical and near-infrared colors. As part of the Colours of the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (Col-OSSOS), we have obtained g-, r-, and z-band photometry of 26 TNOs using Subaru and Gemini Observatories. Previous color surveys have not utilized z-band reflectance, and the inclusion of this band reveals significant surface reflectance variations between sub-populations. The colors of TNOs in g - r and r - z show obvious structure, and appear consistent with the previously measured bi-modality in g - r. The distribution of colors of the two dynamically excited surface types can be modeled using the two-component mixing models from Fraser & Brown. With the combination of g - r and r - z, the dynamically excited classes can be separated cleanly into red and neutral surface classes. In g - r and r - z, the two dynamically excited surface groups are also clearly distinct from the cold classical TNO surfaces, which are red, with g - r greater than or similar to 0.85 and r - z less than or similar to 0.6, while all dynamically excited objects with similar g - r colors exhibit redder r - z colors. The z-band photometry makes it possible for the first time to differentiate the red excited TNO surfaces from the red cold classical TNO surfaces. The discovery of different r - z colors for these cold classical TNOs makes it possible to search for cold classical surfaces in other regions of the Kuiper Belt and to completely separate cold classical TNOs from the dynamically excited population, which overlaps in orbital parameter space.

We present the Vortex Image Processing (VIP) library, a python package dedicated to astronomical high-contrast imaging. Our package relies on the extensive python stack of scientific libraries and aims to provide a flexible framework for high-contrast data and image processing. In this paper, we describe the capabilities of VIP related to processing image sequences acquired using the angular differential imaging (ADI) observing technique. VIP implements functionalities for building high-contrast data processing pipelines, encompassing pre- and post-processing algorithms, potential source. position and flux estimation, and sensitivity curve. generation. Among the reference point-spread. function subtraction techniques for ADI post-processing, VIP includes several flavors of principal component analysis (PCA) based algorithms, such as annular PCA and incremental PCA algorithms capable of processing big datacubes (of several gigabytes) on a computer with limited memory. Also, we present a novel ADI algorithm based on non-negative matrix factorization, which comes from the same family of low-rank matrix approximations as PCA and provides fairly similar results. We showcase the ADI capabilities of the VIP library using a deep sequence on HR 8799 taken with the LBTI/LMIRCam and its recently commissioned L-band vortex coronagraph. Using VIP, we investigated the presence of additional companions around HR 8799 and did not find any significant additional point source beyond the four known planets. VIP is available at http://github. com/vortex-exoplanet/VIP and is accompanied with Jupyter notebook tutorials illustrating the main functionalities of the library.

The Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) near-IR channel is extensively used in time-resolved observations, especially for transiting exoplanet spectroscopy as well as. brown dwarf and directly imaged exoplanet rotational phase mapping. The ramp effect is the dominant source of systematics in the WFC3 for time-resolved observations, which limits its photometric precision. Current mitigation strategies are based on empirical fits and require additional orbits to help the telescope reach a thermal equilibrium. We show that the ramp-effect profiles can be explained and corrected with high fidelity using charge trapping theories. We also present a model for this process that can be used to predict and to correct charge trap systematics. Our model is based on a very small number of parameters that are intrinsic to the detector. We find that these parameters are very stable between the different data sets, and we provide best-fit values. Our model is tested with more than 120 orbits (similar to 40 visits) of WFC3 observations. and is proved to be able to provide near photon noise limited corrections for observations made with both staring and scanning modes of transiting exoplanets as well as for starting-mode observations of brown dwarfs. After our model correction, the light curve of the first orbit in each visit has the same photometric precision as subsequent orbits, so data from the first orbit no longer need. to. be discarded. Near-IR arrays with the same physical characteristics (e.g., JWST/NIRCam) may also benefit from the extension of this model if similar systematic profiles are observed.

Debris disk morphology is wavelength dependent due to the wide range of particle sizes and size-dependent dynamics influenced by various forces. Resolved images of nearby debris disks reveal complex disk structures that are difficult to distinguish from their spectral energy distributions. Therefore, multi-wavelength resolved images of nearby debris systems provide an essential foundation to understand the intricate interplay between collisional, gravitational, and radiative forces that govern debris disk structures. We present the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) 35 mu m resolved disk image of is an element of Eri, the closest debris disk around a star similar to the early Sun. Combining with the Spitzer resolved image at 24 mu m and 15-38 mu m excess spectrum, we examine two proposed origins of the inner debris in is an element of Eri: (1) in situ planetesimal belt(s) and (2) dragged-in grains from the cold outer belt. We find that the presence of in situ dust-producing planetesmial belt(s) is the most likely source of the excess emission in the inner 25 au region. Although a small amount of dragged-in grains from the cold belt could contribute to the excess emission in the inner region, the resolution of the SOFIA data is high enough to rule out the possibility that the entire inner warm excess results from dragged-in grains, but not enough to distinguish one broad inner disk from two narrow belts.

We report the discovery of the minor planet 2013 SY99 on an exceptionally distant, highly eccentric orbit. With a perihelion of 50.0. au, 2013 SY99' s orbit has a semimajor axis of 730 +/- 40. au, the largest known for a high-perihelion trans-Neptunian object (TNO), and well beyond those of (90377) Sedna and 2012 VP113. Yet, with an aphelion of 1420 +/- 90. au, 2013 SY99' s orbit is interior to the region influenced by Galactic tides. Such TNOs are not thought to be produced in the current known planetary architecture of the solar system, and they have informed the recent debate on the existence of a distant giant planet. Photometry from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Gemini North, and Subaru indicate 2013 SY99 is similar to 250. km in diameter and moderately red in color, similar to other dynamically excited TNOs. Our dynamical simulations show that Neptune's weak influence during 2013 SY99' s perihelia encounters drives diffusion in its semimajor axis of hundreds of astronomical units over 4. Gyr. The overall symmetry of random walks in the semimajor axis allows diffusion to populate 2013 SY99' s orbital parameter space from the 1000 to 2000. au inner fringe of the Oort cloud. Diffusion affects other known TNOs on orbits with perihelia of 45 to 49. au and semimajor axes beyond 250. au. This provides a formation mechanism that implies an extended population, gently cycling into and returning from the inner fringe of the Oort cloud.

Many topics in planetary studies demand an estimate of the collision probability of two objects moving on nearly Keplerian orbits. In the classic works of Opik and Wetherill, the collision probability was derived by linearizing the motion near the collision points, and there is now a vast amount of literature using their method. We present here a simpler and more physically motivated derivation for non-tangential collisions in Keplerian orbits, as well as for tangential collisions that were not previously considered. Our formulas have the added advantage of being manifestly symmetric in the parameters of the two colliding bodies. In common with the Opik-Wetherill treatments, we linearize the motion of the bodies in the vicinity of the point of orbit intersection (or near the points of minimum distance between the two orbits) and assume a uniform distribution of impact parameter within the collision radius. We point out that the linear approximation leads to singular results for the case of tangential encounters. We regularize this singularity by use of a parabolic approximation of the motion in the vicinity of a tangential encounter.

We present H band spectroscopic and H alpha photometric observations of HD 100546 obtained with the Gemini Planet Imager and the Magellan Visible AO camera. We detect H band emission at the location of the protoplanet HD 100546 b, but show that the choice of data processing parameters strongly affects the morphology of this source. It appears point-like in some aggressive reductions, but rejoins an extended disk structure in the majority of the others. Furthermore, we demonstrate that this emission appears stationary on a timescale of 4.6 years, inconsistent at the 2 sigma level with a Keplerian clockwise orbit at 59 au in the disk plane. The H band spectrum of the emission is inconsistent with any type of low effective temperature object or accreting protoplanetary disk. It strongly suggests a scattered-light origin, as this is consistent with the spectrum of the star and the spectra extracted at other locations in the disk. A nondetection at the 5 sigma level of HD 100546 b in differential H alpha imaging places an upper limit, assuming the protoplanet lies in a gap free of extinction, on the accretion luminosity of 1.7 x 10(-4) L-circle dot and M(M) over dot < 6.3 x 10(-7) M-Jup(2) yr(-1) for 1 R-Jup. These limits are comparable to the accretion luminosity and accretion rate of T-Tauri stars or LkCa 15 b. Taken together, these lines of evidence suggest that the H band source at the location of HD 100546 b is not emitted by a planetary photosphere or an accreting circumplanetary disk but is a disk feature enhanced by the point-spread function subtraction process. This non-detection is consistent with the non-detection in the K. band reported in an earlier study but does not exclude the possibility that HD 100546 b is deeply embedded.

Dwarf planet Ceres (empty set similar to 940 km) is the largest object in the main asteroid belt. Investigations suggest that Ceres is a thermally evolved, volatile-rich body with potential geological activity, a body that was never completely molten, but one that possibly partially differentiated into a rocky core and an ice-rich mantle, and may contain remnant internal liquid water. Thermal alteration and the infall of exogenic material contribute to producing a (dark) carbonaceous chondritic-like surface containing ammoniated phyllosilicates. Here we report imaging and spectroscopic analyses of data on the bright Oxo crater derived from the Framing Camera and the Visible and Infrared Spectrometer on board the Dawn spacecraft. We confirm that the transitional complex crater Oxo (empty set similar to 9 km) exhibits exposed surface water-ice. We show that this water-ice-rich material is associated exclusively with two lobate deposits at pole-facing scarps, deposits that also contain carbonates and admixed phyllosilicates. Due to Oxo's location at -4802 m below the cerean reference ellipsoid and its very young age of only 190 ka (1 sigma: +100 ka, -70 ka), Oxo is predestined for ongoing water-ice sublimation.

We characterize the absolute magnitudes and colors of RR Lyrae stars in the globular cluster M5 in the ugriz filter system of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). We provide empirical period-luminosity (P-L) relationships in all five bands based on 47 RR Lyrae stars of the type ab and 14 stars of the type c. The P-L relationships were found to be better constrained for the fundamental-mode RR Lyrae stars in the riz passbands, with dispersions of 0.03, 0.02 and 0.02 mag, respectively. The dispersion of the color at minimum light was found to be small, supporting the use of this parameter as a means to obtain accurate interstellar extinctions along the line of sight up to the distance of the RR Lyrae star. We found a trend of color at minimum light with a pulsational period that, if taken into account, brings the dispersion in color at minimum light to <= 0.016 mag for the (r - i), (i - z), and (r - z) colors. These calibrations will be very useful for using RR Lyrae stars from DECam observations as both standard candles for distance determinations and color standards for reddening measurements.

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